


ache

by ndnickerson



Series: Red Label [29]
Category: Nancy Drew - Carolyn Keene
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Family, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hand Jobs, Married Couple, Married Sex, Menstrual Sex, Vaginal Fingering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-30
Updated: 2014-07-30
Packaged: 2018-02-11 01:52:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2048826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ndnickerson/pseuds/ndnickerson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nancy's family tries to cheer her up when she has stomach cramps. Written for the Clue Crew ficathon prompt "love."</p>
            </blockquote>





	ache

"Daddy!"

Ned couldn't help smiling as he put down his portfolio and swept his eldest daughter up into his arms. Ellie would be six years old soon—six! he still couldn't believe it—and she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. Her fine dark hair was under a headband and her eyes were bright.

"Hey. Where's Mommy?"

"Mommy's sitting down," Ellie said, kissing him on the cheek before he put her down. He watched her roll up her sleeves, and then she picked up his portfolio, struggling to get a good grip on it. She was barefoot, too; as soon as they came into the house, they generally had their shoes off, all of them.

"Hi, Ned."

"Hi Hannah. I hope they weren't too bad."

Hannah smiled as she turned off the eye on the stove and wiped her hands on her apron. "No, not at all—but if Anna gets into the cabinets again, I'm going to buy her her own set of pans from Goodwill and show her how to cook."

"Da!" Anna, her round baby cheeks soft and rosy, her hair in golden curls, toddled toward him, nudged along by Sadie. She had her arms spread wide and a grin on her face, and Ned knelt down, waiting patiently for her. When she made it to him without losing her balance, Ned hugged her.

"That was great, Anna. You did so good." He picked her up and she giggled. "You're getting to be such a big girl. Were you playing with Hannah's pots and pans today?"

Anna giggled again, blinking her big blue eyes at him.

"Just because you look like your mom doesn't mean I'm going to forgive you everything," he told her, and kissed her forehead. "But I can already tell you're gonna be a heartbreaker, kitten."

She squirmed and Ned let her down, and then she reached for his hand. The trust and love in her face when she looked up at him melted Ned's heart. "I love you, Anna," he told her.

"Of oo," Anna replied solemnly, then grinned.

They found Nancy and Jamie in the den; Jamie was using the family computer for his homework, and Nancy was on the couch, her hand on her abdomen, her brow creased. "Hey Jamie. You okay, Nan?"

"Mmm," Nancy groaned, stroking her stomach. Anna released Ned's hand so she could toddle over to the couch and climb onto it, and then cuddle up against her mother's side. "Hey baby girl. Did you find Daddy?"

"Want some tea?"

"That would be nice." She gave Ned an exhausted smile.

"Hey, Dad? Can we play video games tonight?" Jamie had turned around to look at him.

"As long as you finish your homework. And if your mom says it's all right."

"Moooom," Jamie began, and Nancy cast a half-dirty glance at Ned as he left the room to get her tea.

Ned went to the kitchen and put a mug of water in the microwave, and found that Ellie had volunteered to help Hannah set the table. While the water heated, and then while the tea steeped, he helped them too.

"Thanks, Hannah. I think I've got it from here," he told her.

Hannah smiled at him. "Everything's ready to eat when you are. I'll see you in the morning," she told Ellie, leaning down to give her a kiss.

"Love you," Ellie told her with a grin.

"Love you too, mouse."

Ellie wandered over when Ned was taking out the tea bag and spooning in the sweetener. "Daddy?"

"Hmm?"

"Is it Mommy's special tea?"

Ned nodded. "Mmm-hmm. Mommy has a tummyache."

"Do you only make Mommy tea when she has a tummyache?"

Ned smiled. "Yeah. My dad—your grandpa—used to do it for my mom when she would have a tummyache, so I do it for your mom."

"But how come I don't get tea when my tummy hurts?"

"Because tea has caffeine in it, so it's a grown-up drink."

"When I'm a grown-up, I can have tea when my tummy hurts?"

Ned nodded. "Yep," he told her. "Now, if you're very careful, do you want to carry the tea to Mommy?"

Ellie's eyes widened and she nodded. Ned gave her two oven mitts—one to hold the mug in her hand, the other so she could hold onto the handle—and watched her closely, ready to dive for it if she started to drop it. She carried it like she was carrying an infant or an eggshell, and she beamed when she brought it to Nancy without spilling any of it.

"Here's your special tea, Mommy."

"Thanks, honey," Nancy said, taking it from her, then glancing up at Ned. "I told your son forty-five minutes and that's it, okay?"

"Oh, so now he's _my_ son," Ned said, and smiled. "All right. Dinner's ready."

After dinner was finished, Ned and Jamie cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher while Nancy pulled out the tub of chocolate ice cream in the freezer and dished some out for everyone who wanted any. Ellie was only allowed a scoop, Jamie a scoop and a half. Then Ned and Jamie played video games in the den for the allotted forty-five minutes, while Nancy sat with Ellie and Anna. Ellie wanted to play with her Barbies and action figures—Ned wasn't quite sure what they were doing, but it seemed to involve saving the world from a relatively enormous rag doll—but Anna was too young to really understand what was going on, and Nancy was still feeling bad.

After Ned and Jamie finished their game, Ned switched back to cable and found a channel they could all watch, then touched Nancy's shoulder. "C'mere," he told her, and helped her up. Then he sat down in one corner of the couch and gestured for her to sit down between his open legs; she raised an eyebrow at him, a faint smile curving her lips, but obliged him. She leaned back to rest her back against his chest and Ned wrapped his arms around her, slipping his hands under her shirt to rub his palms against her bare abdomen.

"You okay?" he murmured.

"Mmm," Nancy replied, relaxing against him as he stroked her. "God, it was bad this entire afternoon... I just wanted to curl up in a ball on the floor of my office and whimper."

Ellie came over to them, her eyes wide. "Tummy hurt?"

Nancy nodded. "Yeah, honey, but it's okay," she said, reaching out to pat Ellie's arm. "I'll be okay."

Ellie looked from Nancy's stomach, where Ned was still stroking her, up to her mother's face. "Baby?"

Ellie had seen Ned with his hand on Nancy's belly often while she was pregnant with Anna, especially late in her pregnancy, when Anna had been active. A few times Ellie had even been able to feel her little sister's heel or elbow through her mother's skin.

At Ellie's question, Jamie immediately glanced over at them. Anna had picked up one of Ellie's Barbies and was waving it around, like she had seen Ellie doing.

Nancy smiled a little and shook her head. "No, El. No more babies."

At that, Jamie relaxed and went back to the book he was reading. Anna had her thumb in her mouth once she had carefully pushed herself up to standing, then toddled over to the couch.

"Mama ouchie," Ellie told Anna. Anna looked at her mother with wide blue eyes. "Does Mommy need more tea, Daddy?"

Ned smiled. Nancy shook her head. "No, baby. I'm okay. What Daddy's doing is helping."

"Daddy said when I'm a grown-up and my tummy aches, I can have tea too."

Nancy glanced over her shoulder at Ned, then patted her knee. "Come here."

Ellie climbed up onto the couch, and Anna followed. As soon as Anna had been able to walk, she had been chasing after her big sister, and sometimes after Jamie too.

"My tummy hurts because I'm not going to have a baby," Nancy told Ellie. "And one day you'll get a tummy ache because your body is starting to change into a grown-up body, but it takes a while for that to happen. Years, really." She reached out and stroked Ellie's hair away from her forehead.

"My tummy will hurt for _years_?"

Nancy chuckled and shook her head. "Sometimes it'll feel like years," she murmured. "No. If you're like me, it'll just be a day or two every month. And when you tell me, I'll bring you some tea, or Daddy will."

Ellie's lower lip poked out as she considered. "So your tummy is sad because no baby?"

"Kind of." Nancy reached for Ellie, and Ellie cuddled up with her, half her weight resting on Ned's leg. "And if your dad is unlucky, all three of us will be on the same schedule."

Ned shuddered, still stroking Nancy's stomach. "Shh. Don't even say that."

Eventually Anna began to yawn, and it was time to give her a bath and wrap her in a fresh diaper and pajamas and put her to bed. Since Nancy wasn't feeling well, Ned took care of putting the girls to bed and reading them stories. Anna was wide-eyed at first, but soon her lashes were low. Ellie seemed thoughtful, though.

"Daddy?"

"Hmm?"

"No more babies?"

Ned closed the book and put it down. "If you're asking whether your mom and I are going to have any more babies, no. We have you three and we love you very much."

"But Mommy's tummy hurts for babies."

Ned shook his head. "C'mere, mouse," he said, and she scrambled out from beneath the covers so he could hug her. "It's okay. It's okay. She's going to be all right. She can take some medicine and it won't hurt as much."

"I don't want Mommy hurt," Ellie said, and her eyes were shining when she looked up at Ned.

"I don't either," Ned told her with a small smile, stroking her hair back from her face, and then he kissed her forehead. "And I don't want you to be sad, mouse. I promise, Mommy will be okay. Tonight I'll hold her and I'll kiss it better, okay?"

Ellie nodded, then craned her neck to kiss Ned on the cheek. "Love you, Daddy."

"Love you too, Mellie. Sweet dreams."

Ellie was hugging her purple unicorn, her face golden in the glow from the night light, when Ned closed her bedroom door behind him and released a long sigh. He heard Jamie brushing his teeth in the bathroom, but he also heard Anna in her room, and he went to check on her.

By the time Ned and Nancy were actually able to go to bed, they were both exhausted. Nancy had plugged in the heating pad, and she was holding it against her lower back. Ned, remembering what he had told Ellie, looked over at his wife from his side of the bed.

"I promised Ellie I'd kiss you better."

Nancy smiled, but her eyes were shining. "I hate that she was upset," she murmured. "God... she's going to get her first period before we know it."

Ned shook his head. "No."

Nancy sniffled. "I freaked out when I got mine," she told Ned. "I thought I was dying, and I didn't have my mom to go talk to about it..."

He reached for her, rolling onto his side and moving to kiss her forehead. "And Ellie and Anna will have you," he murmured. "Just like I get to talk to Jamie about wet dreams and what to do when he's got an erection at school."

Nancy let her breath out in a long sigh, chuckling. "What to do when she realizes she has her period and she has nothing with her to take care of it."

"On the one hand, I hate seeing you in so much pain—but at least it's only a few days a month. On the other hand? I think I had a hard-on pretty much the entire year I was thirteen."

Nancy giggled and buried her face against Ned's shoulder. "Did your mom just avoid making eye contact with you for that year?"

"She handled it, somehow. Maybe because we were both equally mortified." He stroked her hair.

"I'm glad I didn't know you then. I would have been about twelve... and that would have been _gross._ "

Ned chuckled. "Says my wife who has been known to ride my cock, on occasion."

"Your _wife_ ," Nancy confirmed. "But when I was twelve, boys were gross and mean and said crude things."

"Except for me."

"I'm sure." She kissed his cheek. "At any rate, thanks, current Ned, for being so nice to me today. I appreciate it."

"Hey, you're my girl." He brushed his lips against her cheek, too, as he nuzzled against her. "I hate to see you feeling bad."

He slipped his hand down and began to stroke her belly again, and she shifted so her head was against his shoulder. Her brow knit as she reached down and cupped her hand over his, pressing hard. He raised his eyebrows, but when he began to knead her stomach in firm strokes, she released an encouraging grumble. Her skin was damp and flushed, and she shifted onto her back, moving restlessly. His arm brushed her breast and she drew her knees up a little, her eyes opening.

"You okay?"

"Mmm," she moaned. "I would ask you to suck on my nipples but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to let you stop there... and that it would just make the cramps worse, after."

He kept massaging her stomach as he shifted, then kissed her lips gently. "I did tell Ellie I'd kiss you better," he murmured. "But only if you want."

She considered for a minute, and then her knees drew up again. "Please," she murmured.

"Under the covers?" he suggested. She nodded, and he chuckled when he ducked under the sheet—and found that she had already drawn her top up above her bare breasts. He kept his hand rubbing her belly, nuzzling against her chest before he drew her nipple into his mouth and began to suckle.

Nancy released a long, ragged sigh, just louder than breath; she drew her fingers through his hair, stroking against his scalp as he teased her nipple. He felt the muscles of her stomach clench beneath his hand, and she drew her knees up again. The air under the sheet was hot from the heating pad beneath her, and he could smell the hint of muskiness of her sweat, the traces of her perfume, and the faint coppery tang of blood. He moved to her other breast and she arched, and his body reacted as it always did. She was growing aroused and so was he; it hadn't helped to talk about his first mortifying experiences with erections, as embarrassing as he could still remember it being. All it had taken back then was just a smile, just the sight of a girl's crossed legs; now he was with his wife and she was lush and welcoming...

When they had first been engaged, sleeping in the same bed, she had shied away from him on the nights she had been on her period, and he had been terrified of hurting her, of becoming aroused in the middle of the night and forgetting himself. She was in pain and he hadn't wanted to add to it, or to her discomfort. They had been so shy around each other, at first. That was when he had told her about the way his father always brought his mother tea, and it had felt like a way to remember them, when he did the same thing for Nancy. He had never thought she was made of glass, but he did hate to see her in pain.

Now, when his fingertips flirted close to the band of her shorts, she reached down and pulled the elastic away from her, letting him slip his hand between her legs as he kept suckling and stroking his tongue against her nipples. She gasped when he traced the lips of her sex, then pressed two fingers inside her, where she was incredibly slick.

"God... _oh_ ," she panted, grinding her hips against his touch, and then he felt her belly contract with another cramp. She moaned, whimpering a little, and Ned released her breast.

""Want me to stop?" he whispered.

"Don't stop," she whimpered. "Please don't stop..."

She writhed, her arm around his shoulders as he shifted onto his knees between her legs and kept fingering her, his thumb rubbing against her clit, his tongue stroking against her nipple before he gently bit the sensitive tip of her breast. She gasped, stifling her moans as best she could, still thrusting her hips against the penetration of his fingers, and then Ned groaned too as his erection brushed against her thigh.

She gasped. "I—I can jerk you off," she whispered, her voice jumping with every rock of her hips. "Or you can get inside me..."

She was so wet, but he just couldn't. "Jerk me off," he begged, and she slipped her hand beneath the elastic of his underwear, stroking his shaft and clasping him with practiced ease.

He kissed his way back up, up her neck, to her lips, and she was gasping, whimpering, panting as she canted her hips back and forth, her legs open wide. They kissed and touched each other like they were too afraid, too inexperienced to take the last step and truly join. He tweaked her nipple and she cried out against his mouth, and he moved his fingers more quickly as she stroked him, his hips jolting in response.

Once they had both come, they lay there panting, his body cushioned by hers. His fingers were still buried between her legs, her fingers still wrapped around his cock. "Mmm," she murmured. "I love you."

"I love you too, baby. Better?" he whispered.

"Mmm. A little." She sighed. "God, guess we both need to clean up..."

Once they had both washed their hands, they headed back to bed, and Nancy curled up on the heating pad again. Ned snuggled up to her and she rested her head against his shoulder. "Thanks," she whispered.

He stroked his hand over her hair, down her cheek. "Just hope that helped."

"Even if it didn't, it felt good." She kissed the base of his neck. "You're a really sweet guy, Ned. I couldn't have picked a better father for my babies." She kissed him again. "Or a better man to share my bed."

He smiled. "I love you so much," he murmured. "And I hope you're feeling better tomorrow. We have some investigating to do, if you're up for it, Mrs. Nickerson."

She tipped her head up and he obliged her with a kiss. "My favorite words," she said with a little grin. "Mr. Nickerson."


End file.
